The Sunny Lane Project

The Sunny Lane Project
May 2010

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Progress is Love

First, since I ADORE crossing things off a list, in the last post I left a weekend agenda:

Weekend agenda:

Buy dining room table
Clean mortar off brick
Entry way marble cleaned (in progress)
Thaw out (thank you higher temps!)
Maybe move some things from storage (please)
Pick paint color for living room (decisions, decisions...)

Okay - we didn't get to the last item but we DID decide on some version of lite blue. We just need to find that version....and figure out our bedroom.

I'm THRILLED about the dining room table (dinner party!) and the storage unit being 100% empty (no more storage bill!).

Okay, checkout the photos of the progress from above:

1st, the dirty (actually, unbelievable filthy, gooey, icky) entry way marble:


And the unbelievably clean, buffed, shining entry way marble:


We spent 3 or 4 days cleaning the mortar off the brick in our living room. Because we did much trial and error, I want to explain the process so other can hopefully save some time.

Pre-scrubbing:


We went to work with metal scrub brushes and a bucket of warm soapy water. Oh, and a LOT of elbow grease. A LOT.

A little more than 1/2 way:


At this point in the story we stopped to head to Pizzology for Valentine's dinner. Delicious!

Back at it we finished the metal brush scrub, allowed it to dry and we were left with a haze all over our bricks:


Loads of internet research and speaking to a "brick guy" along with some trial and error...and we ended up with a spray bottle of straight, white, distilled vinegar, and two buckets of warm water. The process went like this:

Scott sprayed the 100% vinegar mix on 9-12 bricks. He then ran a regular scrub brush over the bricks (metal bristles not required).
I took a damp rag and wiped the vinegar off and then a dry rag and dried the brick.
2 warm buckets were to keep the damp rag vinegar free. I would would clean the vinegar off, dunk the rag in one bucket and squeeze it. Then I'd dunk the rag in the other bucket and squeeze it out over the first bucket. Hope that makes sense.

We ended up with this:


Scott wants to touch up a few spots but otherwise.....YES! Clean brick!

Scott received his matching Eames for Herman Miller aluminum group lounge chairs he had been anxiously awaiting.

(Sorry for the shadow. The sun finally came out to play):


The back:


And, one other view:


We only have a typing desk left to receive. The bad news is I've cut off living room furniture buying. We need such things as: towel racks, toilet paper holders, more paint, a toilet for the blue bathroom and a master bedroom set. Oh, and we need to pay those pesky credit cards down.

Nothing new to add to the to-do list currently. We just need to pick some colors and save for paint.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Filling up the place

Scott has taken a self-taught class in mid-century modern furniture over the last 3 weeks. While in Chicago for a friend's wedding we hit several re-sale shops. He's also been all over Ebay....to a point where I told him he has to stop. We have regular ol' furniture to get us by in our living room for now. We, however, have not a stitch of furniture in our master bedroom. We also do not have a dining room table. We also have a whole storage unit to clean out. I digress....

The point is - through his ebay shopping excursions we've now acquired the two pieces below. There are two more chairs and a desk (this was actually my request) on the way.

First: A Knoll Bertoia Diamond Chair (covered):



And, our new coffee table is Knoll by Lewis Butler:


Scott says it isn't a "sought after piece" but it's still worth showing!


As for other goings on:
I've unpacked all of our boxes labeled "bathroom" which made room in the little bedroom to bring in some more boxes. I also unearthed some clothing (it felt like I went shopping!). Little by little I'm bringing stuff in from the garage in hopes to make room for the stuff in the storage unit. Not to fear, however. There are also 2 large boxes collecting loads of things we don't need. If it's been boxed up this long....ya know?

And, since the "restore" part of the house is getting closer to complete, I might as well turn this in to a a bit of a "Living on Sunny Ln." blog too. I'm fairly private so their won't be much.....but, I want to keep this space active.

Mostly I've been cooking. Today, I'm drying fruit in the oven:



Weekend agenda:
Buy dining room table
Clean mortar off brick
Entry way marble cleaned (in progress)
Thaw out (thank you higher temps!)
Maybe move some things from storage (please)
Pick paint color for living room (decisions, decisions...)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Kitchen Pendant Light

It's been up for a while but I just realized I had not posted a photo. Isn't she pretty?



Scott found it on ebay, in London. It's a Fog and Morup design (Denmark). It had a black cord on it originally. Ryan swapped it out for the white one you see here. It'll be perfect once our orange back splash is up (we're thinking that will happen when the guest bathroom remodel happens, April-ish).

Please also notice - the trim is painted! YAY!

Coming soon (ie: when the purchases arrive) - photos of the vintage furniture Scott has been addicted to finding. If nothing else, at least it'll help us pick some wall colors!